Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz," refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century,[1] which typically used a front line of trumpet, clarinet and trombone in contrast to more modern styles which usually include saxophones, and the revival of these styles in mid 20th-century Britain before the emergence of Beat music.

Early King Oliver pieces exemplify this style of hot jazz; however, as individual performers began stepping to the front as soloists, a new form of music emerged. One of the ensemble players in King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, was by far the most influential of the soloists, creating, in his wake, a demand for this "new" style of jazz, in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Other influential stylists who are still revered in traditional jazz circles today include Sidney Bechet, Bix Beiderbecke, Wingy Manone and Muggsy Spanier. Many artists of the Big Band era, including Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman, had their beginnings in trad jazz.

During the 1950s a number of provincial amateur bands had strong local followings and occasionally appeared together at "Jazz Jamborees". These bands included The Merseysippi Jazz Band, still active, which toured overseas, Second City Jazzband (Birmingham), Steel City Stompers (Sheffield), Clyde Valley Stompers (Glasgow), and The Saints Jazzband (Manchester).

Following a revival of interest in the late 1980s, a number of musicians such as Wynton Marsalis began performing and recording not only original trad jazz tunes but new compositions in the style as well.